What?
One of my biggest passions is learning about others: their history, their culture, their passions and values, and their motivations- basically, what makes them tick. My biology teacher used to say, “we’re all just a bunch of ribosomes floating around in cytoplasm to create life.” This is true, everyone, regardless of who they are, where they came from, and what they are like, is made of the same stuff. We all require the same materials to live. Although we are all built from the same material, we have our own individual thoughts and perceptions. Inside each person is a driving force that causes them to act the way they do, I love to analyze these thoughts and actions and figure out why.
So What?
Where I grew up, everyone was pretty much the same: white, Christian, middle-class, and Republican. I had learned about other cultures in history class and through books and documentaries, but I never got to see it first hand. During my senior year spring break, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy, France, and Spain. The culture blew me away. These, however, were western cultures quite similar to my own. In my Exploring Health Professions class, we are reading a book title The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a non-fiction novel describing the relationship between a Hmong immigrant family and their American physicians. In the book, the Hmong family’s daughter has epilepsy, a neurological disorder that can be treated with medicine. The family, however, believes the epilepsy is a gift- in their culture, the children who have epilepsy often become an “oracle” of sorts. Not only this, there is also a language barrier between the Hmong and the physicians that causes confusion and fear. This novel opened my eyes to the fact that medicine is not solely diagnosing; the families’ culture and values have to be taken in to account as well in order to have the most effective relationship possible.
Now What?
I would like to study abroad as much as I can during my four years here at UC with study tours and with campus organizations. Although my major does not allow for a study abroad for a whole semester during the year, I am trying to go as much as I can over breaks and I am trying to arrange a semester abroad during the summer. By travelling to these different places, I can get first-hand experience with the cultures and be better able to understand where my patients who identify with that culture are coming from. I would also gain connections with people from all over the world who I could contact if need be.
Another goal of mine is to participate in Doctors Without Borders to gain even further perspective of the different history, cultures, and current events that are affecting everyone one way or another.
One of my biggest passions is learning about others: their history, their culture, their passions and values, and their motivations- basically, what makes them tick. My biology teacher used to say, “we’re all just a bunch of ribosomes floating around in cytoplasm to create life.” This is true, everyone, regardless of who they are, where they came from, and what they are like, is made of the same stuff. We all require the same materials to live. Although we are all built from the same material, we have our own individual thoughts and perceptions. Inside each person is a driving force that causes them to act the way they do, I love to analyze these thoughts and actions and figure out why.
So What?
Where I grew up, everyone was pretty much the same: white, Christian, middle-class, and Republican. I had learned about other cultures in history class and through books and documentaries, but I never got to see it first hand. During my senior year spring break, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy, France, and Spain. The culture blew me away. These, however, were western cultures quite similar to my own. In my Exploring Health Professions class, we are reading a book title The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a non-fiction novel describing the relationship between a Hmong immigrant family and their American physicians. In the book, the Hmong family’s daughter has epilepsy, a neurological disorder that can be treated with medicine. The family, however, believes the epilepsy is a gift- in their culture, the children who have epilepsy often become an “oracle” of sorts. Not only this, there is also a language barrier between the Hmong and the physicians that causes confusion and fear. This novel opened my eyes to the fact that medicine is not solely diagnosing; the families’ culture and values have to be taken in to account as well in order to have the most effective relationship possible.
Now What?
I would like to study abroad as much as I can during my four years here at UC with study tours and with campus organizations. Although my major does not allow for a study abroad for a whole semester during the year, I am trying to go as much as I can over breaks and I am trying to arrange a semester abroad during the summer. By travelling to these different places, I can get first-hand experience with the cultures and be better able to understand where my patients who identify with that culture are coming from. I would also gain connections with people from all over the world who I could contact if need be.
Another goal of mine is to participate in Doctors Without Borders to gain even further perspective of the different history, cultures, and current events that are affecting everyone one way or another.
Values Reflection
For the values reflection we were require to write half a page about when our values played a role in our decision making.
My values are very important to me. One of my most important values is reliability. If I make a promise to someone I will keep it and I expect the person to do the same. My senior year of high school I was very busy. I was taking four Advanced Placement classes, the captain of my dance team, applying for colleges and scholarships, taking the most time consuming English class in our school, doing technical crew for the fall play and winter musical, and trying to do community service with National Honors Society. There was one weekend where there were two showings of the fall play where I was the floor manager along with rehearsals before each of the showings, I had a paper due for my advanced composition class, I had a scholarship essay due, a Friday night game I had to dance at, and I was also swamped with other school work. Earlier in the year, I had signed up for a community service event for NHS not realizing how crazy this weekend would be. I tried to find a substitute for my spot in the event, but I could not. I had, however, already made the commitment to be there, and I would not leave the service group hanging. It was difficult and I had to make tough decisions, but I managed to make it to all of my events I had planned that weekend. Although I barely slept or ate at all that weekend, it is one of my favorite weekends to remember. It makes me proud to know that I did not let anyone down and still managed to keep up in my school work.
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